Food: Sukiyaki (Japan)

鋤焼 (Hiragana すき焼き, romaji Sukiyaki) is a type of Japanese hot pot. Thinly sliced beef, jelly noodles, and other vegetables including cabbage or mushrooms are cooked slowly in a salty-sweet mirin and soy sauce broth. When eating Sukiyaki, each person breaks an egg into a serving bowl and dips what they take from the pot into the raw egg before eating. (This is safe to do in Japan, duplication can't be recommended everywhere.) There are many Sukiyaki restaurants in Japan, and Sukiyaki is also very popular in homes, especially at winter parties.



My friend's grandmother made us this Kyoto style Sukiyaki the night we arrived in Japan. The textures were certainly different - especially the jelly noodles and the raw egg - but it all tasted delicious. The flavour was a unique mixture of sweetness and umami.